The Last Stand
by Shade of the past
Summary: New chapter up! I plan on doing at least one chapter on each species.
1. The Last Stand

First of all, I don't own Starcraft; any characters and places are totally out of range of my monetary expenses. (I couldn't afford them if they were.) So with that out of the way, on with the story.  
  
Once there were many of us, now we are but two. We were a strike unit composed of Firebats and Marines. There were twelve of us, an even mix. We were sent to guard this base hidden within enemy lines, we were the last line of defense, just us in our bunker against an endless wave of Zerg we held out longer than the others, we were the elite, but even the elite have their limits. Our base fell a few days ago, there was a full on attack on our side of the base, but that was just a diversion. As we were defending the line, a second group of attackers rushed our rear lines, decimating them, before we could react they had brought a queen in and infested out base. We were forced to turn our guns against our own as they poured out of the base, misshapen and distorted by the mutations forced on them. In the end it was us against a whole species bent on our extermination.  
  
Our first casualties were the worst. The one of the Firebats caught some acid from a hydralisk, we found out the hard way that that gunk is flammable, there was guts on the wall before we could react, all that was left of three Firebats was a funny smell and a dispersing pink mist. That left us with nine men, eight if you don't count the man wounded by shrapnel. That man fought until he was bled out, a dry husk wracked with rigor mortis holding the trigger even in death. Over the next few days we were whittled down to just me and a wounded Firebat. I think it was worse for me than the Firebat, I was their commanding officer, and all I have done is watch them die by themselfes or in groups, the Firebat , Keith I think his name is, told me his going to go soon. "I know I don't have long left cap. I want you to know that we don't blame you, never did, you held us together as the other bunkers fell." His voice was low and halting. "We are the last. I wont last the hour, as it is I cant move a finger, while I have the strength I want you to know that it has been a great time serving with you." His voice was now a whisper. "If you don't mind, could you give me a light?" I watched as he puffed on his beloved cigarette, I watched as the red embers glowed. I saw when they ceased to glow as the man who gave them life lost his, I was alone, no one else was there to witness our passing. No one else would know what acts were done, the sacrifices made, the lives lost. We were just going to be a statistic. I sat in the darkness for who knows how long, deciding my own fate.  
  
I will not fade away as the embers of the cigarette, I will not die on my back, I decided then and there that I will die as I lived, on the battlefield, as a warrior. I gathered as much ammo as my weapons would hold. I checked what I had: Two .45's my Gauss rifle, and my last resort. I stood at the door of the bunker, looked around at the place that would be my final home, and hit the latch. As I stood in front of the door, I could feel their eyes on me, I could not see them, but it diddnt matter anymore, I stood ready and waiting for what I knew would come next. I was almost caught by surprise when it did happen. The single Zerg came at me, lightning fast, soundless. Nonetheless I drew a bead on him and turned him into a smear on the ground, next came 4, they met the same fate as the first one. Then the ground began to shake and they came at me in force, too many to count, I depleated my rifle, threw the spent weapon into the mass. Next I pulled my pistols and opened up into them, still they did not reach me, at last they were spent, so I went for my last resort, my only truly personal item in the whole world, a relic out of our distant pass. Handed down through the generations of our family, it is a weapon of mysterious origins, a long bladed sword, my last resort.  
  
As I pulled the blade from the sheath, something happened, I couldn't figure out what it was, then it struck me, Silence. Not from the Zerg, they were warily circling me, showing more intelligence than I thought that they possessed. Instead the silence came from within, a calming force that chilled me, I relished it, it gave me strength, I took one last look at the place that would mark my last stand, blood and mixed parts of the creatures that had destroyed, enough, it ends now.  
  
I stand tall, the sword held above my head. I look at the ones that would take me away from myself. I unleash a battlecry that was dredged up from the depths of the human mind where there is still something left of the primitive creatures that we once were and rushed the line of Zerg closest to me. I tear through a few of them before I take a hit, the pain sears through me, but I ignore it, soon I hurt all over, finally my vision begins to dim. I feel no more pain, no more rage, only a calming peace my last thought is a happy one: I have died well. A smile creases my ruined face as everything goes dark.  
  
Overhead, across the barren mountains of Char a star streaks across the heavens. 


	2. Zealot's Lament

Copyright thingie: again, I repeat, I do not own Starcraft or any related things, so there.  
  
Zealot's Lament  
  
All I see is darkness, all I hear is the high pitched buzz of nothingness, I am drifting in a limbo of sensory deprivation, I am cut off from my brethren in the Kalah.  
  
The memories come, faint fuzzy memories, memories of my childhood on Aiur, so many years ago. I remember the fertile grasslands, the barren deserts, the huge temples, I remember starting my training as a Zealot to protect the conclave.  
  
I diddnt graduate at the top of my class, was not the best at anything, I was just an average soldier. But I fought, I had nothing to lose, the only thing I had to gain was victory, and gain that I did, one after another our unit was undefeated, we werent the best, we had some losses, but we werent the worst either.  
  
I remember when the Zerg first appeared in out little corner of the galaxy, we were first curious as to what this new creature was, of course that was before we found out just what they were all about, that's when the trouble started.  
  
The claxons blared a double tone as I ran to the laboratory, dodging past scientists, they were so packed together in the hallway I could not risk activating my psionic blades for fear of damaging someone. The comotion was centered in the main lab where the new lifeforms were being examined, I could hear some kind of scuffle in there, accompanied by feral shreiks, as I burt throught the main doors of the examination room a sickening sight caught my eyes: there were bits of bodies sliding down the walls and a lone scientist on the floor, freshly dead.  
  
Sitting on the dead persons chest was a disgusting insect like creature, slimy looking and drooling, its mandibles buried in the poor mans chest, feeding, a pair of viscious claws raised in the air in an instinctive reaction to my sudden entrance. This must be the Zerg creature ive heard about.  
  
Without hesitation I activated my blades and settled into a defencive position, waiting for the attack that I knew would come. I did not want to kill the creature outright, maybe daze it and incapacitate it, I wouldn't want the head scientists to hear that I slaughtered a priceless specimen without trying to save it first.  
  
It came at me with blinding speed, I barely dodged in time, it was attacking with blind hatred, and I used that to my advantage, hatred is a useful tool in battle, but too much makes one sloppy. As it flew by I grazed it with a blade to cause some pain, maybe that would slow it down. As soon as it hit the ground it was coming back at me, with another dodge I placed a boot to its midsection, winding it, while it was down I tied it, and put it into a cage.  
  
With the danger out of the way I turned to the scientist to see if anything could be done with him, no luck, he was far from being saved. As I knelt next to the dead person, I heard a terrible shreik of metal, I turned to see the Zerg flying through the air at me, jaws open. I quickly activated my blades and impaled the thing on both of them, it still lunged at me, clipping an arm. With a yell of rage I brought the blades apart, severing the creature into 4 parts, the scientists will just have to do with four smaller samples instead of just one large one.  
  
That was my first of many experiences with the Zerg, in the months that followed, one small skirmish extended into a full scale war, I had experience with all types of Zerg, from the flying ones to the ones that burrowed on the ground. I had oceans of Zerg blood on my hands.  
  
The last battle I was in was the worst, we were leading a Dark Templar through enemy territory to a cerebrate, a job reserved for us with the most experience with the Zerg. I could feel him rather than see him through his full time cloaking, his darkness radiating through the air like a energy weapon discharge. Suddenly we were ambushed by a patrol of Zerglings, as we fought in a circle my comrades fell, and then we all heard a dreadful sound, the sound of a flight of Mutalisks winging our way. Soon it was just the Dark one and I back to back, Irony in action. Our comsets telling us that there were scouts on the way, we both knew it was the end for us, he decloaked just long enough for us to share a nod of acception and respect. Turning back to the task at hand, I thought that maybe the dark ones arent as bad as I had thought, maybe we have a chance now. Just as I pushed my blade through the carapace of a Zergling, I felt the Dark one fall behind me, and I heard the dreadful sound of a Mutalisk discharging its deadly worm twoards an enemy. I knew just who it was. I turned with a vain attempt to deflect the loathsome creature, but to no avail, I felt my skin sear, and I awoke in this limbo in which I rest now.  
  
Suddenly, I can feel sensations again, I can feel my body again, but its not the same, its cold, metallic. I feel that my head is submerged in fluid, I try to take in my new surroundings, my senses are not what they once were, they are sharper, more precise. I am in some kind of building that's half hospital and half assembly hall, I recognize this place. I was taken to one in my childhood, it is a place where the risen ones awake. It is where Dragoons are reborn.  
  
I take stock of what I have become, I accept it more easily than I thought I would have, it is comforting, I may even have a chance to destroy the one who destroyed me.  
  
Since I no longer have lungs, I take a figurative breath, and announce to the world to which I am born to for the second time:  
  
"I have returned." 


End file.
